Moishe Rosen did not grow up in a home that believed in Jesus as Messiah. He originally scoffed at his wife when she introduced the idea as truth to him. And yet, he was let to a belief so full of passion that he could not keep it to himself, but felt called to bring this truth to his people, the Jews. His ministry took him cross-country several times and led to an organization that brought the truth of Jesus to Jews internationally.

I am not typically a reader of biographies, and it took me a long time to get through this book. The delay was not due to my disinterest in Moishe Rosen, on the contrary, I found him to be a fascinating person and his passion for Jesus and for the Jewish people to know Jesus as Messiah was incredible. However, I found the book to be less than its subject. Maybe it was precisely because Mr. Rosen led such an incredibly interesting life that it was hard to narrow down the stories to include in his biography. The result was a mishmash of anecdotes and facts that muddled the timeline of Moshie's life and his ministry.

On the plus side, although the book was written by his daughter, Ms. Ruth Rosen, the descriptions of Mr. Rosen's personality felt impartial, and his praises as well as his flaws were accounted for. Ms. Rosen was not only his daughter, but she was heavily involved in the Jews for Jesus organization, and thus had full access to Moshie's life as both father and leader.

As a person, Mr. Rosen's work was incredible and his life story and his life work are an amazing testimony to the Jesus whom he called Messiah. As a book, Called to Controversy could have been a more succinct account of that life and work.

I give this book 3 stars. I am glad that I read it, but I did struggle to get through it.

I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson, as part of their BookSneeze program, in exchange for my honest review.

This is the biography of Moishe Rosen, written by his daughter, Ruth. She did a phenomenal job describing his life and his ministry work.

I loved reading about his growing up years, seeing the family portraits, and getting a glimpse into the time in which he lived. He was born in 1932.

As he begins working in ministry, I was amazed to read how God worked in his life to perform miracles (often despite him). He, like all people, had flaws but he was a tremendously dedicated worker!

Ruth describes how "hecklers" would attack the street preachers. Moishe experienced this and found a way to handle them peacefully. He developed a training program for future street preachers so they were expecting these attacks and were able to continue their work without letting it get to them. This was fascinating!

This book would be excellent for those working in ministry. There are explanations of how the work was run, and how procedures were put into place to protect both the ministry itself, and trouble within. Readers will also be greatly inspired by Moishe's dedication, energy, and work despite so many problems. We also get to read about his family, which is inspiring. His work and life will impact many people, and this book shares his story beautifully.

The only thing I found lacking in the book is that, again from the perspective of a seeking spiritually uncommitted Jewish person, while it would persuade me to take Jesus much more seriously, it would not necessarily help me see that my spiritual destiny depended on accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. I would strongly recommend this book if you are searching for a deeper understanding of our Messiah Yeshua. What a wake-up call for both the Jewish people and the christian church to see the true identy of Jews. Recommend this book for all followers of Jesus as well as anyone who is seeking to know who Jesus really is. The Jewish and Christian sources about Jesus, asserting that the truth has been obscured on both sides. In this book, he puts forth the fruit of his years of in-depth study of Christianity and the New Testament, Christian critics are upset with some of the Christian groups involved in this new friendship for withholding a more overt Gospel message from Jews who they believe need to accept and embrace it. I also do not believe as some critics have said that Jews will be subject to more pressure to convert. This is I believe a fine literary work and should be read by Jews and Christians alike. I find the book to be thought provoking about the issue of religion in general and Jesus in particular.